I recently attended a writing seminar, where a list was passed out, by a published fantasy writer, I am going to type it here. I think this is a much needed list for this web cite.

"Ever since J.R.R. Tolkin and C.S. Lewis created the worlds of Middle Earth and Narnia, it seems like every windbag off the street thinks he can write great, original fantasy, too. The problem is that most of this "great original fantasy: is actually poor, derivative fantasy. Frankly, we're sick of it, so we've compiled a list of rip-off tip-offs in the form of an exam. We think anymbody considering writting a fantasy novel shoudl be required to take this exam first. Answering "yes" to any one question resluts in failure and means that the prospective novel should be abandoned at once.

The Exam

1) Does nothing happen in the first fifty pages?

2) Is your hero able to withstand multiple blows from the fantasy equivalent of a tend pound sledge hammer but is still threatened by a small woman with a dagger?

3) Is your story about a crak team of warriors that take a long a bard who is useless in a fight?

4) Are you writing prequles to yur as-yet-unfinished series of books?

5) Is your novel based on the adventures of your role-playing group?

6) Could one of your main characters tell the other characters something that would really help them in their quest but refuses to do so just so it won't break the plot?

7) Heaven help you, do you ever use the term "hit points" in your novel?

8) Is your main character a young farmhand of mysterious parentage who is heir to the thrown but doesnt know it?

9) Does a young charater come of age, gains great power, and defete the supreme badguy?

10) Is your story a quest for a magical artifact that will save the world?

11) Does a character sole purpose consist of showing up at random points and dispence information?

12) Is the evil supreme badguy secretly the father of your main character?

13) Do any of your female characters exist solely to be rescued? Do any of your female characters exist soely to embody feminist ideals?

14) Does your novel have a prolouge impossible to understand until you've read the book?

16) Do any of your main characters have apostrophes or dashes in their names?

17) Are the characters from the same village named "Tim Umber" and "Belthusalanthalus al'Grinsok" Or anything remotly related?

18) Have you done up game statistics for all of your main characters in you favoriate RPG?

19) Do you think you know how feudalism worked but really don't?

20) Do your characters spend an inordinate amount of time journeying from place to place?

28) Does your hero fall in love with an unattainable woman, whom he later attains?

29) Does a large portion of the humor in your novel consist of puns?

30) Do you really think it frequently takes more than one arrow in the chest to kill a man?

31) Do you think that "mead" is just a fancy name for "beer"?

32) Are there different races, each of which has exactly one country, one ruler, and one religion?

33) Does your main villain pnish insignificant mistakes with death?

34) Is "common" the official language of your world?"

Now this may seem harsh, I mean there are alot of decent novels that have been published that break a couple of these rules in the last 5 years. But the truly great, best sellers? Do they break any of these rules? Keep in mind, this came from a man who is published and his publisher. So if you are even thinking about writing for a living, consider this Exam.

Thank you and have a good day. Oh and my own story is listed below

About Rebirth:

if you have any ideas about a better title dont be shy. I hate this title. I originally started writing this story because I had to have some work of fiction to turn in for a class, and the teacher didnt accept untitled work so I just slapped something on it that would work temporaraly but this has now become the working title until I find something I like better.

Also it was originally supposed to be a short story, but it sorta kept going...mostly because my teacher decided that rather than write lots of short stories I was to only work on this one, but he didnt care about chronological order so now I have alot of story fragments that I am trying to weave together...Which will be why i might not update for a while then all of a sudden I post like five chapters at once.

The world nearly ends when two worlds collide, and a magical world contaminates our normal world. This story deals with a lot of issues, from the manipulation of religion to the massive hysteria that can be spawned by one moment of chaos.

Rhen is no longer the naive child that was sold by his own parents out of superstition. Now he is a man, an elite soldier in ZaKorr’s army of blackness. But can he maintain this life despite the interference of a conscience he isn’t meant to have? (Done)

I hate Summaries. High Fantasy/Science fiction...it started out as a creative writing project and has been equated to a cross between the Gunslinger and the Handmadens tale. Read and Review. But dont be a wuss about reviewing or reviews.

A girl, a boy a nation, all trying to survive in a crazy mixed up world. Choices made for the best dont aways work out the way they were supposed to, and people are faced with the choice, whats best for them or whats best for everyone

Ok...I suk at summereys...and thats an understatment..Elves..a girl that has pointed ears but other than that doesnt look like an elf and wont say anything about her past..a upcoming war..and a prophicy of a different type of elf..Rated R for violence R&R

Well...I'm uploading this for ah friend who can't, but it's basically about an adventure. It's really good! Take my word for it! You'll be sucked in by the first few paragraphs...if not first few sentences!!